I’ve done conventions before, but PAX is a FANS’ convention. I was blown away. Tabletop and video game fans are the coolest. Here is my story day by day:

PAX Prime 2011 – Day 1

Planning for today was laid out two weeks ahead of time. We left Loveless’s house at 7am on the nose. Had a great breakfast at Glow’s, and then everything went out the window. We came out from breakfast to a $43 parking ticket! What a way to start the day! Who knew we couldn’t park in the poorly marked parking lot immediately behind the restaurant of choice? That instantly doubled the price of breakfast!

We get to PAX and I drop off my colleagues only to find out that we are not on the list for four Media passes. They had us down as only two attending. Thank goodness for an email from 4 months ago that was not deleted. After showing them the email we were able to prove that all four of us were already registered.

Finally I get the car parked three blocks away. I walk up hill three miles…. Wait it was three blocks, and then Loveless, Perreault, and I get into the Media line. Unfortunately Jonathan couldn’t make it the first day. We waited for entry into the exhibition hall. My excitement started building uncontrollably and I was worried that I would become a monster; similar to how Bruce Banner becomes The Hulk when angered.

We walked into gaming heaven to see all the newest and next generation games that will be hitting the market soon or are already in play. I was just blown away by the display booths that are set up. The first game that we stop and play is “Gotham City Imposters” at the WB Games booth. (Article from Perreault: coming soon)

The booth babes were hitting on me. What was this, my hands getting clammy? How could this be? So I blurted out a question, “do you have free swag? Because I have two kids.” What was I thinking? They don’t care about my kid status. Such an idiot! Plus, we want to give away most of our swag to our readers! How to recover? Tell them they’re hot and run! So I did and tripped on the carpet as soon as I turned. Yup, I’m officially a nerd with two left feet now.

The rest of the day was spent going from shows, to panels, to interviews. I learned about exciting gear, games, and wears coming out. I got lost and was wandering around but before I could recognize where I was, I found myself at the Bethesda booth. They had a large Dragon above the Skyrim side of it.

I saw a “Media Registration” sign above a desk where a woman was sitting. I manned up and talked to the young princess at the booth. She talked to me like I wasn’t a nerd (couldn’t have been easy for her) so things went pretty smooth. I was able to set an appointment for the next day where our crew here at NERD TREK could actually play Skyrim and Rage while meeting with some of the guys from the development team!

I let the rest of my team know what I set up and everyone was stoked. Jonathan immediately posted on NERDTREK.com asking our readers what questions they had for Skyrim. We got some amazing responses and we were very well prepared.

In the excitement and anticipation of going to PAX, I forgot to charge my camera that I needed for pictures and it died on me. I planned on plugging it in before going to sleep this time.

About William Reny

Working with a great group of friends. Currently I am a featured writer for Yahoo Auto. I am a published author with Pearson Publishing as a contributor to an Automotive Technologies book. I was an automotive technician for 14 years and a USAF F-15E crew chief while in service. I have two of the best kids on the planet. I am a super-fan of The Man of Steel and read DC comics every day. Thank you all who read my posts, you are the reason why I write! Please leave a comment, feed back is appreciated!